Wild Africa: Rivers of Life

The Zambezi River rises from a marsh in Zambia. It then flows east carving a path across six different African countries before it drains out into the Indian Ocean. The river creates one world in the wet season and another in the dry season. On its sixteen hundred mile journey it shapes and transforms every landscape it touches. As the Zambezi pulsates through the continent, it wields the ultimate power over life and death. Few rivers in the world hold more power than the old and mighty Zambezi.

The Sand River is home to one of the densest and diverse animal populations in Africa, where territories dangerously intertwine and overlap. Animal mothers struggle to try and raise offspring to adulthood without them being killed. A solitary female leopard has it the toughest of all predators being solely responsible for the feeding and safety of her litter. But the runt of a lion pride also faces hardship, being taunted and picked on by his siblings as he grows from a small cub to a sub-adult.

In Northern Botswana lies the magnificent Okavango Delta one of the most extraordinary ecosystems in Africa. In the heart of the Kalahari Desert it’s a wetland surrounded by parched and arid plains. The Delta and all the animals that live here, owe their existence to the Okavango River. It delivers life giving water to this flat, dry land and fills pools and swamps all year. Once a year rain falls 1000 miles away in Angola, creating an immense flood and spilling over to surrounding flood plains.

The Hoanib River runs for around 170 miles. It rises in the Hoanib Valley in Namibia, and flows through the parched Namib Desert all the way to the Skeleton Coast before emptying out into the Atlantic Ocean. The river only flows for two weeks a year. When it’s born it gathers strength, shaping and invigorating the landscape and all that it touches. During times of extreme drought, the creatures that call this desert region home depend on the life sustaining waters of the river for their survival.

The life sustaining Limpopo River flows along a 1000 mile course through South Africa and Mozambique and out into the Indian Ocean. For four months of the year this powerful river continuously revitalizes the landscape nourishing the abundance of wildlife dependent on it. For the remaining seven months its waters are locked away in inaccessible underground aquifers leaving behind a series of small and ever shrinking muddy pools. Excruciating heat and drought ravage the area until the next rains.

On the Luangwa River the law of the land is dictated by the ever changing seasons and the constant cycle of life. In the wet season the Luangwa Valley is a green paradise. The river’s waters flow in abundance and lush green vegetation carpets the landscape. But in the dry season, when rains become but a distant memory the greenery turns brown and the water levels drop by a foot a day. Only, those best adapted to life in this extraordinary environment can call the banks of the Luangwa River home.